The Interrelationship Between Restorative Environments and Visual Preferences in University Campus Landscapes

Abstract

Educational settings are considered some of the most mentally depleting environments since they require high concentration, creativity, and efficiency. University campuses clearly portray these environments. Therefore, there is an immense need for campus settings where users can take outdoor breaks to restore and redirect their attention. Well-designed outdoor landscapes can have restorative effects on users, and in turn increase their concentration and overall productivity. This interdisciplinary research explores key literature on restorative concepts and visual preferences from the field of environmental psychology. It also examines the restorative campus landscape character from an urban design perspective. However, there are no coherent frameworks that correlate the three dimensions: restorative landscape design concepts, visual landscape preferences, and appropriate campus planning strategies. Therefore, the research summarizes the key literature findings, and merges the three parameters into a comprehensive assessment tool designed explicitly for university campuses. The paper concludes with a proposed tool (framework) that can provide guidelines to help landscape architects and planners to design restorative campus open spaces and recognize their insufficiencies.